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<div class='statement'>The problems and risks of the industrial food system are exemplified by everything,
from poor animal treatment, to the destruction of frog populations by pesticides, to the recent spinach
scare, and the "Wal-martization" of our food retailing.  For more info on factory farms, visit 
<a href="http://www.hsus.org/farm/">http://www.hsus.org/farm/</a>.</div>
<div class='statement'><p>What grows when in West Michigan?  Take a look at this PDF file, which charts our growing season: <a href="/files/wmGrowing.pdf">West Michigan Growing Season</a>.</p><p>Know that just because it's growing here, doesn't mean we've got it available on the Coop!  Feel free to talk to your favorite farmer, and get them involved with the Coop.</p></div>
<h2>About Us</h2>
<p>The West Michigan Cooperative is an online farmers market offering a way for local farmers and
consumers to stay connected all year long.  A project of 
<a href="http://www.farmswithoutharm.org">Farms Without Harm</a> and the 
<a href="http://www.foodshed.net">Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council</a>, the cooperative
provides local farmers with another outlet for their products besides conventional farmers markets.  In the fall
and winter, this translates to crops with a long shelf-life such as apples, potatoes and carrots as
well as frozen meats, eggs, soap and other products.</p>
<h3>Our Goal</h3>
<p>First and foremost, we aim to support local farmers and expand markets for their products.  The
food in an average meal today travels 1,500 miles from farm to table and consumes great amounts of
fossil fuel in the process.  Thus, purchasing food grown in your community is better for the environment
right off the bat.  Beyond that, the Co-op seeks to support farmers who use sustainable methods to raise
crops and animals -- that is, methods that ensure a secure living for local farmers; maintain the
integrity of the natural environment and resources; and offer respect and fair treatment to all involved,
from farm workers to consumers to the animals raised for food. (For more information visit
<a href="http://www.sustainabletable.org">Sustainable Table</a>.)</p>
<h3>Sustainable Food and Agriculture</h3>
<p>A product can be considered sustainable if its production enables the resources from which it was
made to continue to be available for future generations. A sustainable product can thus be created
repeatedly without generating negative environmental effects through the use of massive amounts of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides and the creation of waste products that accumulate as pollution.
Many different agricultural techniques can be utilized to help make food production more sustainable.</p>
<h3>Industrial Food and Agriculture</h3>
<p>A local, sustainable food system  is an alternative to the majority of modern agriculture,
which is huge in scale, global in nature, highly mechanized and oriented toward processing.  In total,
this approach tends to be destructive to natural systems and soil ecology and utilizes vast quantities
of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and petroleum resources while diminishing the nutrient quality of
food in trade for shelf life.  Industrial agriculture of this sort also favors low production costs over
humane treatment of workers and animals while disconnecting communities and the individual from the
place and the face behind their food.</p>
<p>Industrial agriculture is typified by large, corporate animal farms or
CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations).  These operations are defined by the Environmental
Protection Agency as having more than 1,000 beef cattle, 2,500 hogs or 100,000 broiler hens.
To cut costs and raise production levels, CAFO owners cram thousands of animals in cages under one
roof and ignore basic needs like access to fresh air and exercise. To stave off disease and encourage
growth, they feed the animals huge amounts of antibiotics.  These modern methods have huge costs not
factored into the cheap price of food at stores and restaurants. They include health, environmental
and economic problems such as antibiotic resistance, chronic respiratory disease, deadly bacterial
outbreaks, massive fish kills, water and air pollution, failed family farms and dying rural economies.</p>	
<h3>Terms to Keep in Mind While You Shop:</h3>
<p>You can be sure that farmers in this database are local, and that's the first step in building a
sustainable, local food system.  Beyond that, you need to know some basic terms to make informed
decisions about how to spend your shopping dollars through the West Michigan Co-op (or anywhere else).
We aren't a certifying body, and a farmer's participation in this co-op doesn't automatically mean they
use sustainable methods of production.  Below are some terms that farmers may or may not use to describe
what they do (for more info, visit <a href="http://www.sustainabletable.org">Sustainable Table</a>.):</p>
<dl>
  <dt>Biodynamic</dt>
  <dd>This holistic method of agriculture is certified by a third-party agency and is based on the
  philosophy that all aspects of the farm should be treated as an interrelated whole that includes
  not only living nature but also the non-living world and gravitational and celestial forces. Having
  emerged as the first non-chemical agricultural movement approximately 20 years before the development
  of "organic" agriculture, biodynamics has now spread throughout the world. Biodynamic farmers work
  in harmony with nature and use a variety of techniques, such as crop rotation and on-farm composting,
  to foster a sustainable and productive environment. Visit the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening
  Association (<a href="http://www.biodynamics.com">www.biodynamics.com</a>) for more information.</dd>
  <dt>Cage-free/Free-Range/Grassfed/Pastured</dt>
  <dd>These terms refers to the same basic theoretical approach to raising animals: the animals have been
  allowed to roam outdoors on pasture for the duration of their lives to get exercise, sunshine and eat
  grass and forage for bugs and other food necessary for a healthy diet.  Generally speaking, pastured
  refers to poultry, free-range and cage-free refers to eggs, and grass-fed refers to beef.
    <dl>
      <dt>Free Range</dt>
      <dd>"Free Range" or "Free Roaming" means the animal had some access to the outdoors each day.
      However, it doesn't guarantee the animal spent any time outside. As long as a door to the outdoors
      is left open for a period of time, the animal is considered "Free Range." Note:  the USDA has
      defined this term for chickens raised for consumption but no standards have been set for egg-laying
      chickens or other animals. (If you are looking to buy eggs, poultry or meat raised outdoors,
      look for "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised.")</dd>
      <dt>Cage Free</dt>
      <dd>Birds are raised without cages.  This doesn't specify if the birds were raised outdoors
      on pasture, if they had access to outside, or if they were raised indoors in overcrowded
      conditions. (If you're looking to buy eggs, poultry or meat raised outdoors, look for
      "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised.")</dd>
      <dt>Pastured or Pasture-Raised</dt>
      <dd>This indicates the animal was raised on a pasture and ate grasses and food found in a pasture,
      rather than being fattened on grain in a feedlot or barn. Pasturing livestock and poultry is a
      traditional farming technique that allows animals to be raised in a humane, ecologically sustainable
      manner. <em>Note:</em> a chicken or pig can be pastured, but they aren't solely grass fed; in most cases,
      they must eat grains, too.</dd>
      <dt>Grass-Fed</dt>
      <dd> This means the animals only eat grass and nothing else, and it pertains to cattle, sheep and
      goats (not poultry or pigs). Although it should imply that animals were allowed to graze naturally
      while roaming the pasture, it is possible the animals weren't able to roam but were simply given
      grasses and silage to eat. Regardless, grass-fed meats should be free of antibiotics, synthetic
      hormones, grain and animal by-products.</dd>
      <dt>Grain-Fed</dt>
      <dd>The animal was raised on a diet of grain.  At its best, this is a mixture of corn and soybeans
      and vitamins that is good quality feed, but when farmers and feed suppliers cut corners, these mixes
      are supplemented with animal byproducts and miscellaneous matter such as cement dust and/or
      euthanized cats and dogs. Since mad cow disease is thought to be transmitted through animal
      byproducts added to cattle feed, cows raised on a strictly vegetarian diet are preferred by many
      consumers. <em>Note:</em>  Cattle are ruminants and eat grass; they cannot digest grains properly and can
      become sick if fed a diet of only grain. Although large-scale, confined grain feedlots enable
      industrial meat producers to fatten their animals quickly, they also foster disease within the
      cattle population, creating the need for antibiotics and increasing the risk of E. Coli contamination.
      Grain-fed animals tend to be raised on factory farms and should be avoided.
        <dl>
          <dt>Grain Finished</dt>
          <dd>Cattle that are fed only grain before slaughter. Some producers raise their animals on
          pasture but then feed them grain for a certain amount of time before slaughter. Grain makes
          the meat fattier and creates the taste most people are currently accustomed to.</dd>
          <dt>Grass Fed/Grain Supplemented</dt>
          <dd>Cattle that is raised on pasture and eat grasses. At a certain point, grains are slowly
          introduced into the diet in a controlled amount, along with the grasses. By controlling the
          amount of grain, the animals do not become sick and do not develop digestion problems that
          solely grain-fed cattle can encounter. They are also not forced to eat the grain.</dd>
        </dl>
      </dd>
    </dl>
  </dd>
  <dt>Chemical Free</dt> 
  <dd>The following are practices that attempt to reduce
dependence on synthetic and industrial chemicals on their farm.
    <dl>
      <dt>Pesticide Free</dt>
      <dd>Farmers who raise crops or animals without chemical
        control of pests (to control weeds, control crop eating insects or to
        control flies or other animal pests) but may use chemical fertilizers (as
        opposed to compost or other natural unrefined sources) in pastures, field
        crops or their fruit or vegetable production.</dd>
      <dt>Pesticide and Chemical Feftilizer Free</dt>
      <dd>No petroleum based synthetic
        chemicals are used on this farm - no petroleum based synthetic pesticides
        nor any industrial chemical fertilizers are used on this farm. Typically
        these farms make a concerted effort to build healthy soil ecosystems and
        believe petroleum pesticides are harmful to people and their farm.</dd>
      <dt>Integrated Pest Management (IPM)</dt>
      <dd>A strategy of weed and insect pest management that uses as much information as possible
      to most effectively apply the least amount of pesticides to control pests.  </dd>
    </dl>
  </dd>
  <dt>Antibiotic/Hormone Free</dt>
  <dd>Antibiotic/Hormone Free generally refers to livestock:
    <dl>
      <dt>No Antibiotics Administered</dt>
      <dd>No antibiotics were administered to the animal during its lifetime. If an animal becomes
      sick, it is taken out of the herd and treated but not sold.</dd>
      <dt>No Hormones Administered or No Added Hormones</dt>
      <dd>Animals were raised without added growth hormones. (By law, hogs and poultry cannot be
      given any hormones.) </dd>
      <dt>Raised Without the Routine Use of Antibiotics</dt>
      <dd>Antibiotics were not given to the animal to promote growth or to prevent disease, but may
      have been administered if the animal became ill.  Often, antibiotics are added to animal feed
      at low amounts ever  since it was discovered in the mid-1990s that they increase the rate of
      animal growth.  However, this is a risky use of antibiotics as it causes them to lose their
      effectiveness and increases the chance of their ending up in our water supply and our food.</dd>
      <dt>rBGH-Free or rBST-Free</dt>
      <dd>rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) is a genetically engineered hormone that is injected
      into dairy cows to artificially increase their milk production. The hormone has not been
      properly tested for safety. Milk labeled "rBGH-Free" is produced by dairy cows that never
      received injections of this hormone. Organic milk is rBGH free. (rBST stands for recombinant
      bovine somatotropin.)</dd>
    </dl>
  </dd>
  <dt>Food Alliance Certified</dt>
  <dd>A certification program that focuses on three fixed standards:
    <ol>
      <li>No genetically modified organisms</li>
      <li>No hormones or feed additive antibiotics</li>
      <li>Continuous improvement.  There are four areas of "continuous improvement":  
        <ol>
          <li>Reduce pesticide usage</li>
          <li>Soil and water conservation</li>
          <li>Safe and fair working conditions and</li>
          <li>Wildlife habitat conservation.</li>
        </ol>
      </li>
    </ol>
    For more information, visit www.thefoodalliance.org.</dd>
  <dt>Organic</dt>
  <dd>In order to be labeled "organic," a product, its producer, and the farmer must meet the
  USDA's organic standards and must be certified by a USDA-approved food-certifying agency.
  Organic foods cannot be grown using synthetic fertilizers, chemicals, or sewage sludge,
  cannot be genetically modified, and cannot be irradiated. Organic meat and poultry must
  be fed only organically-grown feed (without any animal byproducts) and cannot be treated
  with hormones or antibiotics. Furthermore, the animals must have access to the outdoors,
  and ruminants must have access to pasture (which doesn't mean they actually have to go outdoors
  and graze on pasture to be considered organic.  Buyer Beware: only USDA certified-organic foods
  can use the word "organic" in the product name, but organic ingredients can be listed on the
  packaging that aren't entirely organic (i.e., "made with organic flour"). Furthermore, if a
  company is certified as an organic producer, it can use the word "organic" in its company name,
  which can appear on all of its products - even those that aren't certified organic. So, it's very
  important to look for the USDA "Certified Organic" seal when purchasing organic products.
    <dl>
      <dt>USDA Certified-Organic</dt>
      <dd>In order to bear the USDA "Certified Organic" seal, a product must contain 95-100% organic
      ingredients. Products that contain 100 % organic ingredients can be labeled "100 percent organic."
      Products that contain more than 70 percent, but less than 94 percent organic ingredients can be
      labeled "Made with Organic Ingredients," but cannot use the USDA "Certified-Organic" seal.</dd>
      <dt>Transitional Organic</dt>
      <dd>This isn't a certified label, but it indicates the farmer is in the three-year transition
      process to certified organic farming.  Farmers must use and document practices on their farm
      for three years before they can be certified organic.</dd>
    </dl>
  </dd>
</dl>
<div class="statement" id='bottomline'>
<h3>The Bottom Line</h3>
<p><em>Know Your Farmer</em></p>
<p>The key to a sustainable food system in West Michigan is the participation of local consumers.
It's ultimately up to you to take responsibility for where your food comes from; educate yourself
about the issues surrounding modern agriculture and don't be afraid to ask questions when you shop.
Farmers who are as concerned about the food system as you are appreciate it.</p>
</div>
